I’ve been in school for so long that it’s hard to pick out a single experience that has shaped my academic life. I tend to think of my academic life as one never-ending experience that keeps changing me as I go. However, there has been one specific incidence that has shaped my attitude towards my education so greatly that I wouldn’t be even remotely the same student as I am now without it.
Many people believe that first and second grades are for learning how to learn. Instead of reading to learn, you learn to read. Not many people realize how influential these years are to students and how much it impacts the rest of their academic lives. I was in first grade when my teacher told us to write a story about anything that we wanted to. I began brainstorming and writing about a made up little girl named Violet and her adventures. I worked for hours and hours on this book, making sure that every word was spelled right, and that all of the pictures were perfectly drawn. As I looked around the classroom during the days that we had to work on these stories I saw my fellow classmates goofing around and not making much of an effort to make this story really good.
I had been working on this story for a while when the teacher came up to me one day and told me how great my work was. She believed that I was way ahead of the class and asked if she could share my story with the class. I told her of course she could, I was so excited that I went home that day and re-read my story for hours and hours. The next day, after all of the kids in my class heard my story about Violet, they came up to me and told me how cool they thought Violet was and was awesome adventures she had gone on. I was so proud of myself that day; I will never forget it. This was the day that I learned that I could produce work that people would enjoy and appreciate. That I was more than just an ordinary student; that teachers actually wanted to see what I was doing, so I should put my effort into it. My teacher explained to me that I have a lot of pride in my work, and that I shouldn't give that up. At the time I had no idea what 'pride in my work' meant, but I took it as a compliment and went home to figure it out. I told my mom about what had happened at school and she was thrilled, she told me that 'pride in my work' meant that I wanted everything to be the best that I could make it, because I believed in myself and wanted to make myself the best student I could be.
Almost fifteen years later I am still recalling this story as the most influential moment in my academic life. The fact that I even remember it tells me that something about this story was impacting, but until I thought about it, I had no idea how much it had truly shaped me as a student. This experience has stuck with me so much that it has been the deciding factor as to why I want to be an elementary school teacher. I firmly believe that these types of experiences happen all the time in the first and second grades, but not as often as they should. I have seen too many unenthusiastic first graders lately, and it makes me so sad to know that they will most likely spend the rest of their academic years with this kind of attitude. Because of this experience I always put a lot of effort into my work, and push myself as hard as I can because if I don’t believe in myself, no one will.
I’ve been in school for so long that it’s hard to pick out a single experience that has shaped my academic life. I tend to think of my academic life as one never-ending experience that keeps changing me as I go. However, there has been one specific incidence that has shaped my attitude towards my education so greatly that I wouldn’t be even remotely the same student as I am now without it.
Many people believe that first and second grades are for learning how to learn. Instead of reading to learn, you learn to read. Not many people realize how influential these years are to students and how much it impacts the rest of their academic lives. I was in first grade when my teacher told us to write a story about anything that we wanted to. I began brainstorming and writing about a made up little girl named Violet and her adventures. I worked for hours and hours on this book, making sure that every word was spelled right, and that all of the pictures were perfectly drawn. As I looked around the classroom during the days that we had to work on these stories I saw my fellow classmates goofing around and not making much of an effort to make this story really good.
I had been working on this story for a while when the teacher came up to me one day and told me how great my work was. She believed that I was way ahead of the class and asked if she could share my story with the class. I told her of course she could, I was so excited that I went home that day and re-read my story for hours and hours. The next day, after all of the kids in my class heard my story about Violet, they came up to me and told me how cool they thought Violet was and was awesome adventures she had gone on. I was so proud of myself that day; I will never forget it. This was the day that I learned that I could produce work that people would enjoy and appreciate. That I was more than just an ordinary student; that teachers actually wanted to see what I was doing, so I should put my effort into it. My teacher explained to me that I have a lot of pride in my work, and that I shouldn't give that up. At the time I had no idea what 'pride in my work' meant, but I took it as a compliment and went home to figure it out. I told my mom about what had happened at school and she was thrilled, she told me that 'pride in my work' meant that I wanted everything to be the best that I could make it, because I believed in myself and wanted to make myself the best student I could be.
Almost fifteen years later I am still recalling this story as the most influential moment in my academic life. The fact that I even remember it tells me that something about this story was impacting, but until I thought about it, I had no idea how much it had truly shaped me as a student. This experience has stuck with me so much that it has been the deciding factor as to why I want to be an elementary school teacher. I firmly believe that these types of experiences happen all the time in the first and second grades, but not as often as they should. I have seen too many unenthusiastic first graders lately, and it makes me so sad to know that they will most likely spend the rest of their academic years with this kind of attitude. Because of this experience I always put a lot of effort into my work, and push myself as hard as I can because if I don’t believe in myself, no one will.